Voigtlander Nocton Classic 40mm f1.4

Got this lens with my Epson R-D1 but could not wait to try it adapted to the M43 bodies. I got a Chinese adapter from ebay but it sucked so I sent it back and got a Panasonic adapter.
Tried it first with the GX7 and frankly I was a little disappointed. Then I was playing with the EP5 and got a pretty awesome shot. So it tried the same shot with the GX7 and sure enough, for some reason the GX7 does not produce as sharp and nicely rendered shots IMHO... They are very similar, but to my eye, zoomed in LR they are quite different.

First shot is with GX7 and the last one is with the EP5. BTW, it is also a lot easier to focus manually with the EP5. both shots handheld.. I focused both on the hinge of the spout.

Looks like a very nice lens. The GX7 is shooting at 1/8s, PL5 at 1/80s - I think that would explain the slight softness difference in the picture.

Click to expand...

Hmmm.. good point. I must try again with both cameras on the tripod and same settings... Strange thing is that I shot a few other photos with the GX7 on a tripod or otherwise stabilized and with shutter delay. Still, it looked a little "soft". Granted, when I shoot with the Epson R-D1 the images are "soft" as well, but they render beautifully in B&W and in color. Funny thing is I cannot explain why the old RF camera shoots such pleasant images....

Are you shooting RAW? Or straight to jpg? GX7 and PL5 has the same sensor AFAIK, but their jpg engine implementation would obviously be different, along with different incamera pp options. To my eyes, there seems to be a hint more contrast in the GX7 compared to the PL5 shot?

OK, I did more accurate comparo. I used a tripod and shutter delay with the EP5 and GX7. Used auto WB, Aperture priority and allowed the camera to set shutter speed. ISO 200, and all other settings as equal as possible (the menus a a little different in each camera). I also added some shots in color and B&W with the Epson for curiosity.

Naturally, when I exported the shots, they are compressed and in jpg format. Also, I modified the exposure and WB adjustment in LR to identical settings because the camera defaults were way different from each other. The first shot is EP5, second is GX7 and third & fourth are R-D1

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